Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. on Wednesday formally introduced its next-generation PlayStation 4 video game console. As expected, the fourth-generation system will hit the market later this year to lead the PlayStation into its third decade. The new console promises to reimagine the video games with a set of new technologies, features and gaming network never-before-seen by the industry.

“Our vision for the future is consumer-centric, developer-inspired, and characterized by an unwavering commitment to phenomenal play experiences. Today we are revealing the genesis of an expanding ‘idea’ about the future of play – an idea with enough potential to satisfy the insatiable appetites of our creative community of developers and gamers,” said Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Early during the presentation Sony confirmed general technical specifications that have been discussed recently (it appears that almost everything about the PlayStation 4 technology has been leaked well-ahead of the formal introduction). The new console is based on AMD Fusion system-on-chip with multi-core x86 microprocessor (eight-core AMD Jaguar), PC-derivative graphics processing unit (custom AMD Radeon HD core with unified array of 18 AMD GCN-like compute units [1152 stream processors], which collectively generate 1.84TFLOPS of computer power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two), various special-purpose hardware blocks as well as multi-channel memory controller.

The PS4 will come with 8GB of unified GDDR5 memory sub-system (with 176GB/s bandwidth) for both CPU and GPU as well as large-capacity hard disk drive. Sony PS4 will be equipped with Blu-ray disc drive capable of reading BDs at 6x and DVDs at 8x speeds, USB 3.0 connectivity in addition to a proprietary aux port, Gigabit Ethernet port, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR wireless technology as well as HDMI, optical and analog outputs. The new system will also utilize new DualShock 4 game controller with integrated touchpad as well as better motion sensing thanks to new tracking cameras.

Due to to considerably improved graphics and processing horsepower of the PlayStation 4, game developers will be able to design titles with dramatically improved graphics that will get a huge step closer to photorealistic graphics seen in movies. Owing to multi-core microprocessor with decent performance, software makers are now also able to reproduce accurate physics effects and realistic movements of characters to further bring visual appeal of video games closer to that of movies.

Screenshot from Killzone: Shadow Fall by WWS Guerrilla Games

Sony said that it has worked hard to make the PlayStation 4 platform easy to develop new games for. Numerous creators at the event show said they are extremely enthusiastic about the future of the PlayStation platform. Tens of game designers from all around the world, including big names like 2K, Activision, Blizzard(!), Capcom, Electronic Arts, Konami, Sega, Square Enix, and Ubisoft will support the PlayStation 4 with their titles, loads of which will be available in the launch window (November ’13 – March ‘14).

As expected, the forthcoming PlayStation 4 will be tightly integrated with Gaikai cloud gaming services. Since the PS4 will not have native compatibility with the previous-generation PlayStation games, it will use cloud technologies to stream those titles to the new console. The system will also sport improved cross-platform game-play capabilities that will allow PS Vita and PS4 to better work together. For example, the PlayStation 4 will support remote play on PlayStation Vita out-of-the-box.

At the “See the Future” event Sony also announced plans to stream video games originally developed for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation mobile consoles to different devices using PlayStation Cloud services powered by Gaikai. Sony’s vision it to enable PlayStation games on PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Screenshot from Driveclub game from WWS Evolution Studios

Sony also showcased the first titles that will be developed for the PlayStation 4 and its advanced hardware and networking capabilities. The Killzone: Shadow Fall and DriveClub games look like advanced PC titles that exist today; although some compromises in terms of graphics are visible, the geometry models and lighting look extremely realistic. New games by Square Enix and Ubisoft for the PlayStation 4 will sport very rich and big interactive worlds in addition to just realistic graphics, something that will make the next generation of games different from the existing titles.

SCE will announce new details of PS4 and its robust lineup of games from 3rd party developers and publishers, the independent gaming community and SCE Worldwide Studios, as well as further enhancements to the entire PlayStation ecosystem between now and the holiday 2013 launch.

“The arrival of PS4 is a critical initiative that presents an enormous opportunity to dramatically evolve the game play experience into something far grander than ever imagined. From enhanced social capabilities to intensified power to realizing bigger, better, and more immersive game play, to the evolution of our ecosystem to meet the requirements for a simpler, more adaptive interface, we believe PS4 proves we have more to offer than ever before,” concluded Mr. House.

Discussion

if every report checks out to be true about the ps4 then it's going to be a power house of a gaming system and end up blowing away the competition. Sony has done a much better job at rep their ps4 capabilities so far then Microsoft has with the 720 and if the reports of the hardware in the ps4 are true then the ps4 is going to have a much more powerful gpu then the 720 will have, which will make those of us that are intuned to graphics with our gameplay a lot more interested in the ps4 then the 720.

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What does intel have anything to do with this conversation? You are so pro amd you have to bring up amd vs intel in every article?

Initial articles claiming the ps4 was higher powered then the future xbox were based on the belief that the ps4 would be based on bulldozer, which is a more powerfull cpu then jaguar. Both will infact be based on jaguar most likely. I have not said anything against the cpu choice of either console, all I have said is that there is a lot less evidence that the PS4 will be significantly more powerfull then the future xbox, since they both appear to use the same cpu, and graphics will most likely be limited more by thermal and power concerns then the architecture / layout chosen.

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it's a custom 8 core jaguar cpu. bulldozer cpu's have a high tdp rating. So even though it won't be as powerful as an fx 8350 in terms of multi-threading performance it will be a decent cpu for consoles. As for the gpu that's where the xbox 720 and ps4 will seeprate themselves.the ps4's gpu will be 1.84TFLOPS the xbox 720 gpu will be 768GFLOPS.

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There is tight control over the details on the next gen console market. Its the reason why there were varying degrees of rumors. From that alone it should have been obvious not to set expectations as all the rumors are so different.

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@Cashkennedy - Please excuse me but after reading your post beginning thread number 2, it seemed you were having a thinly veiled swipe at AMD's top and newest technology that Sony has selected. But certainly, what I would like to convey is that everything is being done to a price at the moment. We are not in the excesses of 1986 or 2006. Design choice will come down essentially to parts cost vs reasonable performance, not how out-rightly kickass it is. In that regard Nintendo, Sony, and MS can all be defended. Am I pro AMD? Unashamedly and on principle. Nevertheless, I try to balance my views. In the end I want the truth to prevail. I certainly don't want a situation like the Emperor's New Clothes. AMD deserves and needs timely criticism when they stuff up. My bugbears are their crap marketing (poor name choices and fragmented products) and poor execution. In regards to this console, it looks like it has the goods. It needs to run as cool as possible as people normally place them inside poorly ventilated cabinets on which TV's sit.

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Apology accepted. I have had AMD / ATI graphics cards only for the last 10 years, so I give AMD a pretty fair accessment, but that doesnt mean I ignore the fact that they perform much worse in single threaded tasks, and have higher power consumptions vs equivalent performance intel cpus. I also agree they have some very bad marketing / naming ideas.

I dont expect them to make something excesive/expensive, I just dont think we should not make conclusions about the next xbox based on its rumored shader count, as I think both consoles will be limited by the 28nm process (which isnt going away for a while) and a TDP that is reasonable for a console (110w ?).

I think jaguar is a great product for entry level notebooks and possibly tablets, Im no expert on game design, but im surprised how often it is said that jaguar will be great for consoles, as its single thread performance (which is very important for games) is not very impressive. I do realize that FP units are not crucial for gaming though, and that a well tuned game / OS will make better use of the 2/1 architecture then windows.

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Sony said it so it's official. Maybe the post was prelaunch but what the gaming community is waiting now is what does Microsoft has to answer to this machine. I guess (and has been reported) the new xbox will be very similar with also a Jaguar CPU on it and very similar graphic card. What will differentiate them hardwarewise are other components complementing CPU and GPU that will be tailored to what that company is trying to deliver like the instaplay chip Sony will use : http://www.joystiq.com/20...es-as-theyre-downloading/
which, with all those cores, could be done in software.

Anyways,

Like it has been since the dinosaurs, it will come down to which exclusive content you cant live without. Love Mario? then that Wii U will have to do or else you are SoL.

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Yes its childish to not rush out to buy a new product that I already have something better then. Its deffinetly not childish to post comments on forums that people are childish. Children never call people names.

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Those games were most likely made on high end pc's using SDK from Sony! There is no reason why those games wouldn't run on way better hardware, It's just that they like to have "exclusive content" to sell that console.
In other words marketing bullshit!

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Check this out ozegamer. You can preorder a Sony PS4 at EB Games for $900. They wouldn't know the real price yet so they're obviously covering their bases to the max whilst getting some self-promotion in the media at the same time. Cheeky devils.

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OMG $900 for a console, That's now approaching the price of a cheap entry level pc. Just heard it can't handle 4k games either, So it's not exactly future proof when the tv's drop in price over next few years. I will stick to the pc and put that $900 towards a high end video card or two for that matter!
Think I payed about $700 for PS3 from memory on 1st day release, $200 more PS4 is kind of pushing it, Especially for the younger crowd out there still at school.
Then again you could also say it's a good thing for us pc gamers, The console is getting expensive so maybe a better investment for parents would be a pc so they can do homework and play games.

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$900 cheap entry level PC? Seriously, I can deck out a machine with high end 750W power supplies, ASUS Sabertooth motherboard, Radeon HD 7950, 8GB of 2133Mhz RAM, 2TB HDD, etc. with just 900$. You call that low end?

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@Cashkennedy - now you've read me wrong. I wrote "childish" as in your comment. I didn't call you anything. I only reserve name calling for the former jmlxg and avon hardcore trolls. It's childish because your post drips with sarcasm and I reckon you don't work inside the industry and therefore don't know how and why these design decisions were made based on factors like price, contracts, chip fabrication production, engineering integration, software gaming IDE's, etc. If you do know, please write an article for Xbit to enlighten us. Until then, stop taking cheap shots. There is nothing wrong with the technology being employed inside PS4.

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3.

I'm surprised to see no techies bring up the fact that this an an AMD design. It's not exactly a true 8 core CPU, just 8 integer schedulers (2 int. schedulers x 4 cores) . Even with it being a customized chip for Sony, it doesn't make sense that AMD would have another architecture different from what they've been doing for the past 2 years. Not that it' a big deal, just we should be aware. In the end, i'm disappointed with the specs. 360/ps3 nearly matched 2005 high-end PC specs. At the very least it will allow all developers to utilize DX11 (sry DX10 no love for you) and thus while we'll still be dealing with console ports, at least it will be simpler for developer to spice up there games for PC. If you were in 2005 and saw what the console could pull off today.......

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Nope, I can tell you now, think of it as two Kabinis on the same die, only customized in a grouping that is customer specific. We are taking real 8 Jaguar cores not marketing spin of X x Y = z logic units.

You might be mixing things up with the bulldozer family of chips that share functional units apart from integer blocks.

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4.

Im wondering how the hell the Jaguar cpu's are going to talk to DDR5 memory since no AMD CPU has anything other than a DDR2/DDR3 memory controller. Perhaps theyre pumping data through the GPU over HyperTransport and then to RAM.

In any event, shared fast memory between CPU and GPU is the next big step in compute hardware. Right now the lag to trasfer data from ram to vram kills nearly all benefits of GPGPU programming.

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AMD reckons x5 performance for HSA. But it's a maturing technology that is still 3 to 5 years away from starting to really change the game. Big contracts like this certainly help. But they need much more. They need to get the likes of Apple or Samsung to integrate their APUs en mass to get the party started.